Ireland's Oldest Person and SWI Special Merit Award winner passes away

Josef Veselsky, second from right, is presented with the 2016 Special Merit Award from left, Mark McCadden, SWAI President, Ronan Brady, Head of Marketing, SSE Airtricity, Liam Tuohy Junior and Philip Quinn Credit: Sportsfile

It was with great sadness that SWI has learned of the passing of Josef Veselsky, Ireland's oldest person at 107, and a former stalwart of Irish football.

Veselsky was born in Trnava, a city now in Slovakia, in 1918, just week before the fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the formation of Czechoslovakia. He was an international table tennis player and the then banker, was a member of the Resistance against the Nazi Regime through World War Two.

Following the end of the war and the emergence of the communist rule in Eastern Europe, Veselsky left Czechoslovakia for Switzerland, en route to Australia, but ended up in Ireland in 1949.

He returned to table tennis where he became a coach, then administrator and Life President of the Irish Table Tennis Association before getting involved with football.

He ended up as a director of Shamrock Rovers before becoming an Executive Vice President of UCD AFC.

He was a familiar face at the annual Soccer Writers Ireland Awards and he was rewarded for his services to Irish football in 2016, when he was named the recipient of the Liam Tuohy Special Merit Award.

SWI would like to extend it sympathies and condolences to the family and friends of Josef.

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis